Hot links: Head-scratching, feuding and dry cleaning

Want to know why stocks fell so hard Thursday? So does everyone else. “So here’s the weird thing. There’s really no ‘story’ associated with this sell-off,” Business Insider says.

Well, there is that whole earnings slowdown thing, notes Reuters. “The sell-off is the result of increasing concerns about the future earnings growth,” says Christian Stocker, equity strategist at UniCredit in Munich. “Valuations are high compared to previous years, and the trend of earnings estimates is very muted in the U.S. and almost flat in Europe.”

But when there is a sell-off, it’s time to bring out the bears on CNBC, notes Calculated Risk.That often means Marc Faber of the Gloom Boom Doom Report. This morning, natch, he was bearish. “This year, for sure — maybe from a higher diving board — the S&P will drop 20%,” Faber said, adding: “I think, rather, 30%.” Faber said much the same in 2012.

Some good news from Calculated Risk: The annual budget deficit will be equal to 3% of GDP in fiscal 2014, down from 10% in 2009. “It is the fastest four-year reduction in deficits since the demobilization after World War II,” [says Ernie Tedeschi, head of fiscal analysis at ISI], “but it has come in the middle of an economy that is not yet healed from the worst recession since the Great Depression.”

Bloomberg’s Megan McArdle, intrigued by the president’s complaints about the difference between men’s and women’s dry-cleaning bills, asks, “So what’s the scoop? Are dry cleaners sexist jerks? Are they ripping us off because ladies are too stupid or too shy to do math?” She then did a crazy thing and asked dry cleaners.

Third Point, an investment advisory firm headed by Dan Loeb, thinks Sotheby’s is ignorant about art and should fire CEO William Ruprecht, reports Dealbreaker. Irked, Sotheby’s unleashed a mighty PowerPoint of Rebuttal. Now, Third Point has unlimbered its website of shareholder grievances. What will happen next? Stay tuned.